October 12, 2008--Rams Head Coach Jim Haslett in a game between the St. Louis Rams and Washington Redskins at Fedex Field in Landover, MD. (Erik M. Lunsford /P-D)

Apparently, new Rams coach Jim Haslett doesn't just talk a good game.

Late in the third quarter Sunday, as a shanked Durant Brooks punt headed down field for Washington, Redskins "gunner" Leigh Torrence was blocked out of bounds by the Rams.

"We jammed him out of bounds," Haslett said. "He was coming on me, so I figured it was me or him. If he was going to run me over, I was going to get him. So I got a good shot on him."

That's right, the head coach of the St. Louis Rams appeared to get a little shove in on Torrence during a game. That explains why Torrence and Haslett were jawing at each other on the sidelines after Brooks' punt went out of bounds. Haslett claimed he tried to get out of the way but that Torrence kept running farther out of bounds toward him.

"I didn't want to get run over," Haslett said. "You see those coaches that get tackled? That wasn't going to be me. ... It's not a big deal. But really, I was not going to get run over."

Welcome to the new world of Rams football. You shove them, they'll shove back.

That was never more evident than in Sunday's surprising — no, make that stunning — 19-17 victory over the rough-and-tumble Redskins. In a Rams performance that was flawed in many ways, the team kept pushing — and in the case of right guard Richie Incognito, shoving and jaw-jacking.

It was as if Haslett's message to the team, in words and deed, was: We're not going to take it.

"I would think (the players) wouldn't take it," Haslett said. "You don't want somebody pushing you around, and shoving you around out there."

Haslett is trying to teach the Rams how to win. In Sunday's case, at least, the players bought in. But with Dallas, New England, improving Arizona and the New York "Bretts" (as in Brett Favre) coming up over the next four weeks, Haslett is far from ready to say this Rams team has turned a corner.

In fact, he all but laughed off a question Monday about the possibility of the Washington victory giving the Rams some momentum.

"I don't know," Haslett said. "We've got one win. It's been a long time coming, but I don't know. We'll practice hard Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and we'll give it everything we've got to win the game on Sunday."

Dallas comes to a sold-out Edward Jones Dome on Sunday for a kickoff at noon.

"This is a great (Dallas) football team," Haslett said. "Excluding their injuries, I thought going into the season, it was the best team in the National Football League, with the most talent. There's a lot of talent on that football team."

No pun intended, but the Rams received a break Monday with the news that Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo will be out up to four weeks with a broken finger on his throwing hand. Romo suffered the injury in overtime of Sunday's 30-24 loss to the Cardinals.

That leaves 40-year-old Brad Johnson as the Cowboys' starting quarterback. Johnson, 40, hasn't thrown a pass all season, had only 11 attempts last season, and hasn't started a game since the 2006 season as a Minnesota Viking.

"We played Brad a number of times in the past when he was at Tampa Bay, even when he was at Minnesota," Haslett said, referring to Haslett's previous coaching tenure with New Orleans. "Tony can run around and make plays on his feet, and Brad really doesn't do that anymore. But he's got a great feel for the game. He'll run the offense extremely well. He'll get the ball out of his hands. He can still throw it."

Johnson's skills may have eroded some since he led Tampa Bay to the Super Bowl XXXVII title over Oakland six years ago, but he's the sixth most accurate passer in NFL history, with a career completion percentage of 61.8 percent. (That's among passers with 3,000 or more attempts.)

Johnson will be throwing against an injury-depleted St. Louis secondary still without Tye Hill (knee) and with nickel back Ricky Manning Jr. out for the season because of a broken ankle suffered against Washington.

However, the Rams finally got Fakhir Brown back under contract Monday, re-signing the veteran corner for the rest of this season just 2 1/2 weeks after his release Sept. 24 by then-coach Scott Linehan.

"It's good to have him back," Haslett said. "I thought he was one of our better defensive backs. When he's healthy, he's a pretty good corner."

Brown was at Rams Park on Monday and told reporters he has been working out twice a day at home since his surprise release by Linehan. But Haslett wasn't ready to instantly name Brown a starter, perhaps wanting to wait until he gets a look at Brown on the practice field Wednesday.

"I haven't really talked about that yet with the defensive coaches," Haslett said. "I'm sure he'll figure in the mix."

-10-14-2008

laram0

Re: Thomas: Rams will push if they are shoved

I hope Haslett can turn our team into a hard hitting team. It would be nice to have that hard-nosed, hard hitting team reputation around the NFL.

I want to see alot of the opposing players getting jacked-up!

-10-14-2008

TekeRam

Re: Thomas: Rams will push if they are shoved

Does anyone else think we should sign Haslett up to be the Sam after this weekend?

-10-14-2008

eldfan

Re: Thomas: Rams will push if they are shoved

Quote:

Originally Posted by RamWraith

"I didn't want to get run over," Haslett said. "You see those coaches that get tackled? That wasn't going to be me. ... It's not a big deal. But really, I was not going to get run over."